Eine meritokratische Wende? Arbeit und Leistung als neue Strukturprinzipien der deutschen Flüchtlingspolitik

Ambiguous goals, uneven implementation – how immigration offices shape internal immigration control in Germany

“…The main underlying conception of fairness of the economic welfare logic is meritocracy (Schammann, 2017): participating in training and the labour market, migrants with precarious legal status can 'earn' the right to remain. This is also a signaling effect to those concerned: 'If you make an effort, you can make it here.'…”

“…Second, Germany recently selectively liberalized labour market access policies for migrants with precarious legal status (see e.g. Schammann, 2017). In particular, the recent introduction of the so-called vocational toleration (Ausbildungsduldung) can be regarded a paradigm shift in German immigration law, granting persons in the precarious legal status of 'toleration' the possibility to get on a path to regular residence for the purpose of employment.…”

A prospect of staying? Differentiated access to integration for asylum seekers in Germany

“…This increasing interest might be rooted in the growing critical awareness of state attempts to circumvent humanitarian obligations through externalization and deterrence policies (e.g. Gammeltoft-Hansen 2014) and the introduction of meritocratic elements in asylum policies (Schammann 2017). It also accompanies a gradual shift within the normative debate on migration itself, which has become less absolutely divided in proponents and opponents of open borders: today, most scholars agree that the state may control its borders, differing merely about the exact extent of and justification for it (Bader 2012).…”

Policy Dilemmas of Migration Control: Liberal Democracies and Migrants with Precarious Legal Status

“…It is worth mentioning that the driving forces behind regularizations gradually shifted from predominantly humanitarian to economic objectives, with applicants needing to fulfil criteria of economic self-sustainability and integration (Ellermann 2014;Kraler 2019). A meritocratic logic has entered (Schammann 2017). The recent introduction of the so-called vocational toleration (Ausbildungsduldung) is a case in point, although it does not constitute a regularization per se, but a stabilization of an otherwise precarious situation that might pave the way for actual regularization of status in the future (Schultz 2020b).…”

“…In practice, the currently observable trend towards elements of activation and meritocracy in migration law rather matches the second line of argument, though. The underlying idea of this meritocracy trend is that migrants with precarious legal status can earn their right to remain via training and employment (Chauvin, Garcés-Mascareñas, and Kraler 2013;Schammann 2017). All in all, given these tough decisions, it is hardly surprising that states usually delegate difficult decisions on non-removable persons' access to the labour market, social services and regularization to municipal administrations .…”